Train-coupling for electrical conductors.



W. C. WHITE.

TRAIN COUPLING FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS.

APPLlCATlON FILED DEC. 1. I913.

1,214,857. Patented Feb. 6,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET1.

- W. C. WHITE. TRAIN COUPLING FOR ELECTRICAL comoucroas.

I APPLICATION FILED DEC. I, I9I3. 1,214,857. Patented Feb. 6,1917.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

3 i I i a I II 3% Q N gm W. C. WHITE. TRAIN COUPLING FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS.

APPLLCATION FILED DEC 1, 9L3- 1,214,857. Patented Feb. 6,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNTT Arl TRAIN-COUPLING FOR ELECTRICAL CONDUCTORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 6, 1917.

Application filed December 1, 1913. Serial No. 804,081.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER C. WHITE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Train- Couplings for Electrical Conductors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for one of its objects the provision of means whereby electrical conductors may be carried by train-pipe coupling heads and automatically brought into such relation as to establish electrical connection when cars are coupled. A further object of the invention is to provide means to retain the terminals of the electrical conductors within the coupler heads.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and consists in certain novel features hereinafter first fully described and then more particularly pointed out in the claims following the description.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a horizontal section through two coupled heads, showing one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same;

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of an electrical terminal;

Fig. 4: is a vertical longitudinal section showing a slightly different embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of the same;

Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of the terminal.

The coupler heads 1 illustrated in the accompanying drawings are of the type shown in detail in an application for patent filed by me March 20, 1913, Serial No. 755,697, and are provided with a plurality of longitudinal chambers 2, 3 and at, train pipes 5 and 6 being shown asentering the chambers 2 and 3. The electrical cable 7 is shown entering the uppermost chamber 4 and may be utilized to form the circuits for any desired purpose such as the train lighting, telephone or telegraph systems or for the engineers signal line. The illustrated coupler heads are supported in suitable hangers so as to have a limited longitudinal movement and their front faces 8 are disposed obliquely to the longitudinal axis of the head; the several chambers 2, 3 and 4t.

terminating at their front ends in ports located in said obliquely disposed face. The heads are also provided with guide arms 9 which are adapted to engage between wings 10 at the top and bottom of an opposed head and to bear upon a projection 11 on one side of said head so that, when the heads come together, the ports therein will be caused to register exactly.

The cables 7 have their front ends secured to contact members or terminals 12 which are embedded in insulating blocks 13 pro vided on their opposite sides with longitudinal ribs 14 adapted to engage longitudinal grooves formed in the ends of the chambers l, and retaining springs 15 are secured upon said ribs and bear upon the bases of the grooves so as to retain the plugs (con sisting of the insulating blocks and the terminals therein) in the heads. Rubber or other elastic rings 16 are fitted between the inner ends of the blocks 13 and annular shoulders within the heads so as to cushion the blocks and prevent injury thereto from the impact of heads in the act of coupling or during the travel of the cars. The ends of the terminals project through the ends of the block 13, the cables being secured to the rear or inner ends of the terminals in any convenient manner, as by binding posts 17. The front ends of the terminals are adapted to engage the outer ends of the terminals in an opposed head and it will be noticed that the block is inserted in the head at a right angle to the front face thereof so that the outer ends of the terminals and the insulating block will be parallel with or substantially in the same vertical plane as the said oblique front face of the head. The cables, or the individual wires thereof, are coiled loosely in rear of the plugs, as shown at 18, so that they will not be injured or broken by the movement of the heads and the plugs may be withdrawn without disconnecting the wires should repairs be necessary. The cables are supported at the rear ends of the heads and in the hangers by telescopic tubular casings 19 so that they will not be pinched and broken by the vibrations incident totravel and the operations of coupling and uncoupling. In the side of the coupling head and opening into the chamber 4, I provide a passage 22 through which a small instrument may be inserted to bear upon the back of the plug and push the same from the head when such action is for any reason necessary or desirable.

In the form shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, the plugs are inserted in the coupling heads axially of the longitudinal chambers in the heads and the outer ends of the terminals and the insulating blocks are beveled, as shown at 20, to conform to the oblique disposition of the front face of the coupling head. In this form, also, the springs 21 are secured in the grooves in the head and engage the ends of the ribs on the block.

The ribs and grooves prevent rotation of the plugs within the coupler heads so that they will always be in position to engage the plugs of an opposing head and establish the electric circuit with certainty. As the terminals project slightly beyond the insulating sleeve or block, when the coupler heads come together the terminals will be brought into close contact and thereby establish the electric circuit.

What I claim is 1. In a train pipe coupling, a coupler head having a body provided with an open-ended chamber provided with longitudinal grooves in its opposed walls at its outer end, an insulating sleeve fitting snugly but detachably in the outer end of said chamber and having ribs engaging said grooves, electric terminals fitted in and projecting through both ends of said sleeve, and conductors secured to the inner ends of said terminals and playing freely in the rear end of the chamber.

2. A coupling comprising a coupler head provided with a longitudinally disposed chamber and having an open port at the front end of said chamber, an electrical conductor passing longitudinally through said chamber and coiled loosely therein, an insulating sleeve slidably mounted in said port and engaged therein and removable therefrom through the front end thereof, and a terminal detachably secured tothe conduc' tor and embedded in said. sleeve and proecting beyond .the forward end of the same to form a sliding contact with an opposed terminal.

3. A coupling comprising a coupler head having a longitudinally disposed chamber, an electrical conductor entering said chamber, a plug forming a terminal for said conductor, and an insulating sleeve fitted around said plug and seated in the front end of said chamber, the front wall of the coupler head being disposed at an inclination to its axis and the ends of the plug and of the insulating sleeve being beveled to correspond to the inclination of the front wall of the head.

1-. A train pipe coupling comprising a coupler head having a longitudinally disposed chamber provided with ports in its front and rear ends, a plug seated in the port in the front end of said chamber, an

electrical conductor extending from said plug through the chamber and supported loosely in the port in the rear end thereof, said conductor having a terminal extending through and projecting beyond the outer end of the plug to contact with a terminal in an opposed coupling head, and frictional retaining devices between the side of the plug and the wall of the port in the front end of the chamber.

5. A coupling comprising a coupler head having a port in its front wall and a longitudinal chamber leading to and opening directly into the inner end of said port, an electrical conductor extending loosely through said chamber to said port, an annular seat at the inner end of said port, an elastic ring resting on said seat, a plug slidably fitting in and closing the port in the front wall of the head and bearing at its rear end against said elastic ring, and a terminal for the conductor carried by and extending through the plug and projecting beyond both ends of the same.

6. A coupler head having a front vertical face disposed at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of the head and having a plurality of chambers opening through said face, a plug fitting in and closing the open end of one of said chambers and having its outer end disposed at substantially the same angle to the longitudinal axis of the head as the said front vertical face, and an electrical conductor extending through said chamber and movably supported in the rear wall of the same and having its terminal embedded in and closely surrounded by and projecting through said plug to slidably. engage an opposed terminal.

7. The combination of a train pipe coupler head, an extensible electrical conductor disposed within and extending longitudinally through the head, a terminal for said conductor fitted in the front wall of the head, and a telescopically extensible and contractible support for the conductor mounted in and projecting through and beyond the rear wall of the head.

8. A train pipe coupling comprising a coupling head having a chamber formed therein, an insulating sleeve removably fitted in the outer end of said chamber, electric contact terminals embedded in and projecting through said sleeve, and conductors detachably secured to the inner ends of the terminals, the chamber and the sleeve being provided with slidably inter-engaging longitudinal ribs and grooves and the outer ends of the terminals being disposed obliquely of the longitudinal axis of the chan1- ber whereby to have sliding contact with an opposed terminal.

9. The combination of a coupler head having a port in its front wall and provided with a longitudinal chamber leading directly to said port, a telescopic tubular sup- In testimony whereof I afiix my signature port fitted through the rear Wall of the head in presence of two Witnesses.

at the end of said longitudinal chamber a terminal fitted in said port, and an electrioal WALTER H conductor connected to said terminal and Witnesses:

coiled loosely in said chamber and extend- G. M. BEALs,

ing through said telescopic tubular support. SUE B. FRITZ. e

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents. each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

